“Since Steve Jobs’ biography was released, there’s been a lot of talk about an Apple television. Apparently Jobs figured out the perfect interface for such a device, and he thought it would make a big impact on the industry,” Derek writes for Stableboy Selections. “Well, I really hope Apple does this as soon as possible, because I own a Google TV. And Google TV is a piece of shit. Leave it to Google to throw out another flawed beta product (Does anybody use Google+ anymore?).”
“Only after I bought this piece of junk did I realize the flaws of my judgment. GoogleTv is so unnatural to use as a web browser that I hardly try any more. It’s so much more efficient to just open up my Macbook Air and get things done,” Derek writes. “I’m tired of the cumbersome task of switching between tabs. First you need to hold down the Home button for a second. Then you need to push on a directional pad. Then you need to push Select. This was truly designed by an idiot. On a computer all I need to do is use a trackpad and click. And as for the Logitech full-size keyboard? It is terrible, too. The trackpad isn’t even half the size of my Macbook’s. You can’t just tap the pad to click. You need to click a separate button. This was also designed by an idiot.”
“Apple wouldn’t dare to put out the crap that Google does. When Apple makes a TV it is going to be unlike anything we’ve seen. I can imagine it now. You won’t need three remotes to turn on your A/V equipment. You won’t need to study the manual that shows you what each button does on your remote,” Derek writes. “You will just tell Siri if you want to switch from watching a movie to browsing the web. You won’t need to remember the numbers to every channel. You will just tell Siri what program you want to watch, and Siri will automatically change the channel for you.”
Derek writes, “You know what’s amazing about all this? I am not an engineer. I am average when it comes to understanding technology. But I have common sense because I am a consumer of technology. I know what experiences are good and which aren’t. Everything Apple makes is intuitive to use. Apple’s competitors generally don’t know how to make anything intuitive unless they copy.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Well, now, there’s a lovely review (to go along with all the rest).
Related articles:
Logitech losses highlight Google TV flop; CEO exits, Revue price slashed to $99 – July 28, 2011
Google TV not ready for primetime; faces delays amid poor reviews – December 20, 2010
Amazon’s list of the best-selling electronics: Apple TV is #13; Google TV is #430 – December 03, 2010
It’s official: Google TV is a flop – November 28, 2010
Google TV pretty much shut out after Viacom blocks access – November 22, 2010
Pogue reviews Google TV: ‘An enormous step in the wrong direction’ – November 18, 2010
Fox.com joins NBC, ABC and CBS by blocking Google TV – November 11, 2010
Google TV blocked by broadcast and network TV over piracy concerns – October 21, 2010
Oops! Google TV offers no protection, no way to block or control Web’s bad elements – October 07, 2010
DOA: Logitech’s Google TV box to retail for $299 – October 06, 2010
Intel CEO says ‘simplistic’ Apple TV is more for ‘mom,’ sees Google TV devices coming this month – September 09, 2010
Google finding Google TV a tough sell to networks – August 18, 2010
Streaming live TV from iPad to Apple TV via AirPlay – November 29, 2010
iOS 4.2: Hands on with AirPlay on Apple TV and iPad – November 26, 2010
Gear Live reviews Apple TV: Small, fast, inexpensive; AirPlay will make people sit up and notice – October 12, 2010
Computerworld reviews Apple TV: Well-executed, cost-effective, and easy to recommend – October 08, 2010
Businessweek reviews Apple TV: Apple gets serious about TV – October 08, 2010
Apple wins first battle of TV war with Google – October 07, 2010
MacNewsWorld reviews Apple TV: Priced to sell at just $99 – October 07, 2010
Hobby turns hit: Apple TV on pace to sell 1 million units per quarter – October 06, 2010
Ars Technica reviews Apple TV: ‘The potential for AirPlay is huge’ – October 04, 2010
Apps are coming to Apple TV one way or another – October 01, 2010
CNET reviews Apple TV: Pitch-perfect design and user interface; AirPlay has game-changing potential – October 01, 2010
Engadget reviews new Apple TV: Video clarity is impressive; audio quality is also superb – September 29, 2010
TIME’s Techland reviews Apple TV: ‘Incredibly convenient’ – September 29, 2010
PC Magazine reviews new Apple TV: ‘Our new Editors’ Choice media hub’ – September 29, 2010
Fox News hands-on with new $99 Apple TV – September 28, 2010
If an Apple TV comes out with Siri, I hope it allows: “Gonzo (what I will name my TV) go to Chanel 13.” or “Gonzo, find a I Love Lucy rerun.”
Things like that would be helpful. No more hand held devices to loose in the cushions.
Oh, and “Gonzo, shut off at 11:00 tonight.”
That would be great.
Lose
Maybe Richie is just a little ‘loose in the cushions’.
Nice!
I’m having a hard time getting his drift….
Evidently the author has something against manure.
A shovel?
Now I’m really confused….
I’m calling mine, ‘Boober’.
I’m having a hard time figuring out how Siri is going to work, especially during a Superbowl party with five guys shouting at the screen. What if a child walks in front of the screen in the middle of the game and says, “I wanna watch Egbert Duck” in the middle of the Superbowl, would Siri change the channel? What if there is a player named House and a viewer shouts “Go House,” would Sirit change channels to the medical show if it was in reruns on another channel? What if the announcer says, “Stay tuned for more news” immediately after you told Siri to change the channel? Would she change channels or not?
I just can’t get my head around this.
Don’t worry Ken, Barbie will explain it. Now you really know what the remote app is for…
You might have a remote with one button the button to activate Siri… Like on the iPhone…. Or proceed all commands with a phrase like “Siri… Please change to channel x”… There are many solutions to the issues you describe… Apple will surely pick the best ones…
Yes there has to be a remote with mic pickup with one button (sort of like the current Apple TV button) for noisy situations and a TV mic for more quieter environments, easy to wrap your head around. Who knows maybe Siri will be also to recognize only specific voices by then too.
Stop thinking before you seriously hurt yourself.
You remind me of the times before the iPhone came out. People were saying things dumb things like…..”so when I touch the phone to my ear will it start to dial my mistress while I am on the phone with my wife?” We all know what bozo’s they turned out to be. Don’t we!
Apple really has things figured out. You know that second mic on the top of your iPhone? It does stuff. Magical stuff. Stuff like filter out background noise (even the really loud stuff) Worry not, sports fan. Whatever Steve had up his sleeve, it will just work.
Not being constrained by battery issues, an AppleTV-based Siri could be listening for commands the whole time, and only analyzing and interpreting sentences that are preceded with something like “Siri, …”
Just like in Star Trek, people have to deliberately say clearly, while not being in the middle of a sentence; “Computer,…” before asking for something
I think …you just talk to your iPhone to control the TV. PIP on your iPhone while you are at it.
Let me summarize that for you.
Google TV is crap.
Apple TV hasn’t made it out of the hobbiest basement yet.
I use the Apple TV every evening. No hobbyist basement at my house. I gave up model railroads long ago, and the Apple TV is in the den.
Watching Netflix and YouTube on Apple TV helped me keep my sanity when I was housebound taking care of my dying father. The best part was pausing shows to handle emergencies. It kept me entertained while I kept an ear out for problems and it was a good catharsis. Back then, if a movie character broke a tea cup, it would move me to tears. Now everyone is dead but me. The tea cups don’t bother me any more, but at least the Apple TV is still here.
Thank you for pointing that out to me. I’ve always had an aversion for Apple TV due to its inability to handle 1080p format movies.
I have a 1080p set, but because it is a 32-inch set, I can’t really tell the difference between 720p and 1080p from the vantage point of the sofa. I think most people see the difference at about 50 inches or larger. A 1080p Apple TV wouldn’t give me enough additional picture quality to compensate for the larger downloads. At least for now.
If Apple increases the Apple TV to 1080p, their customers will start to run into data-cap problems. So Apple is motivated to stay at 720p.
Exactly. However, seems like the 1080p iPhone 4s videos are handled pretty good.
Maybe future versions will be 1080p, but the store will remain at 720p?
Exactly as it should be;
This review uses Apple as the standard against which other companies must be measured.
We will see this more and more.
And all non-Apple tech companies should be sweating blood.
If I know Apple, it will be closed system and won’t allow any other equipment to be connected to it.
Really? So Apple TVs don’t actually connect to flat screens and the people talking about watching Youtube and Netflix videos are either lying or just imagining things? I guess you think Macs can’t connect to the internet and have no USB, Ethernet DVI, HDMI, WiFi, PCI or even audio connectors.
You are not just an idiot, you’re an ignorant IDIOT.
Well he is Bob.
just glancing my mac is connected to a Wacom, HP and EPSON printers, scanners, various hard drives… I can even link my mac to PCs…
I connected my iPod to my .. CAR.
You don’t know Apple.
My Mac Pro is connected to 3 external firewire hard drives, a Samsung 2nd monitor, an X-keys keypad, a Matias half keyboard, a Targus keypad, a Wacom tablet, a 3D Connexion Space Naviagtor, a Lexar Firewire card reader, an Epson photo printer, a Nikon film scanner, an Epson scanner, 2 Dymo Labelwriter printers and, of course to a bunch of Apple stuff. And yes, I use all of those things – Every Day – and it all JUST WORKS!
I forgot the Epson multifunction printer. It connects to my Mac too – wirelessly through the Airport. Neener-neener!
“If I know Apple, it will be closed system and won’t allow any other equipment to be connected to it.”
Wow, a likely candidate already!
@Bob is my nominee for anonymous coward TardTroll of the month. Say something even more inane Bob! You’re going to have a lot of competition before November 30th.
Google is the purveyor of half-cooked cookies.
Quote of the Day:
“I have common sense because I am a consumer.”
Yeah, right.
Does anyone else get a recurring sense of the surreal these days regarding Apple’s ascendance?
Most of us here have know Apple has been making the best computer stuff available for ages. Many of us here have spent time in the Computer Warz, fought off all the doom mongering, pointing out that crapware has damaged and held back the computer community for decades. (Hello Microsoft!)
Now Apple is *The Darling One* with massive market share because finally the herd noticed.
Meanwhile, the pseudo Apple competitors have responded with not much more than imitative junk or cast off crud. It’s to the point of being scary, like watching Daliesque ants crawling out of a moribund hand.
Is this ALL the competition can come up with? Turd on toast? There has GOT to be a revolution, a renaissance of creativity and innovation.
My suggestion: Shoot the old school executive staff, especially the Marketing Morons. Start again as ENTREPERNEURIAL companies.
If you want a quick and easy Steve Jobs message for the modern business world, it’s this:
Be entrepreneurial or die.